


Five Times They Left Before the Magic Faded / And One Time They Didn’t

by miraculousmidnight



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: 5+1 Things, F/M, Identity Reveal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-10
Updated: 2016-03-10
Packaged: 2018-05-25 20:59:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 873
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6209938
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/miraculousmidnight/pseuds/miraculousmidnight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They told themselves and each other they didn't want to know who was under the masks. Until they did.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Five Times They Left Before the Magic Faded / And One Time They Didn’t

**Author's Note:**

> This was an answer to a prompt by @pixietirabell on tumblr and a lot of fun to write. Enjoy!

 

 

**Five Times They Left Before the Magic Faded / And One Time They Didn’t**

 

_//One//_

 

Chat Noir’s heart beat loudly in his chest as Ladybug’s earrings beeped in her ears. The pair of them were crouched in a stairwell, and she was huddled in his arms, exhausted. She had less than a minutes left before her transformation faded away. They were still getting to know each other, but Chat was already crazy about her. And he couldn’t deny he was dying to know who hid behind her mask. 

But he was also scared that the girl wouldn’t live up to the superhero. After all, who was Adrien compared to Chat Noir? 

He closed his eyes until he heard her slip out the door, a whispered “thank you” on her lips. 

 

_//Two//_

 

Ladybug didn’t want to know. Chat Noir knew this. He had become her dear partner, but he was reckless and impatient and if he thought transforming in front of her would tempt her, he was dead wrong. 

She spun around, closed her eyes, and slapped her hands over her face. “No! You stupid cat, don’t you know what we can’t? What if we already know each other? What if knowing who we are changes how we act around each other and our secret gets out? What if it ruins our partnership? What if you get _hurt_ because I’m distracted or confused or ransomed or -- or --” 

Adrien blinked rapidly, feeling the barrage of questions like a dagger digging deeper and deeper into his gut. He’d only been joking, knowing she wouldn’t actually look, but had no idea she would react so strongly. 

“I...I’m sorry.”

He never tried to tease her like that again.

 

//Three//

 

The fighting duo fought as a well-oiled machine, but they were not perfect, and accidents happen. 

Blame exhaustion, or carelessness, or whatever it might have been, but the nearest they ever came was when they both chose the same alley after a battle.

“Oops.” Adrien heard a high pitched voice followed by a knowing giggle, then a “No, don’t look!”

“Tikki, what --”

“Shh! Unless you want to see Chat Noir standing behind you. Or, the boy behind Chat Noir’s mask.”

“What??” 

Adrien didn’t know whether to laugh or join in her panic. His eyes shot to Plagg, who was watching over the boy’s shoulder in amusement. The tiny kwami shrugged, and waved at Ladybug. 

“Lucky boy, she’s still cute under the mask,” Plagg mused. 

If there had ever been a way to show just how loyal to Ladybug and her wishes he really was, it was then at that moment by not turning around. The hardest five seconds of his life. 

 

//Four//

 

The first time they kissed - without the influence of an akuma present - it was in the rain. 

The thrill of victory ran hot in their veins as another akuma was defeated, and for once, they weren’t surrounded by a crowd. It was instinct, to go to one another, their lips attracted like magnets, and nothing else in the world existed. 

It only lasted a second, before they realized what they were doing and _who_ they were doing it with. Ladybug pulled back first, Chat reluctantly letting her go. She didn’t go far, just far enough to look up at him. 

Neither said anything. Neither knew what to say, because truthfully, they both liked it. 

When the insistent beeping of their miraculouses finally broke through the haze, Ladybug backed up further, out of Chat Noir’s embrace, then sprinted away. 

Adrien stood in the rain for a long time, staring at the space she had filled, a dumb grin on his face and his clothes soaking wet. 

 

//Five//

 

She thought he was dead. 

She thought he had died without never knowing who she really was and that broke her heart in pieces. 

She cradled his head in her lap, tears streaming down her dirt-stained cheeks as she frantically felt for a pulse. 

“Don’t leave me, Kitten. Please, I’ll do anything. I’ll show you who I am, that doesn’t matter anymore. I can’t lose you.” 

Then, miraculously, he coughed and groaned and leaned into her touch. 

“Not like this, my Lady.” Chat’s eyes were still closed, his breathing shallow, and his body bruised and bleeding, and yet he still had the energy to grin at her. “I want to see a smile the first time I see your face.”

 

_//And The One That Counts//_

 

They stood on the rooftop, silhouetted against the warm, romantic night lights of the Parisian skyline, hearts pounding in anticipation. 

Ladybug had used her Lucky Charm. Chat Noir had used his Cataclysm. And for the first time, neither was in a rush to escape to safety. 

“Are you sure?” Chat asked in a reverent tone, his green eyes hungry and so focussed on her that Ladybug thought she might burst from the intensity. 

She swallowed, then nodded. “Close your eyes, and after the transformations wear off, we’ll both open on three. Okay?’

“Okay.”

Usually when the teens dropped their alter egos, they felt a loss of power, of freedom. 

Not tonight. 

Tonight was nothing but anticipation, exhilaration.

Love. 

“One.” Marinette first. 

“Two.” Then Adrien.

“Three.” Then together. 

A beat.

_“I knew it had to be you.”_


End file.
